Klf 2016

Spread humanity not hate

Spread humanity not hate

06 Nov 2018

Shahina K Rafigue had a deep conversation with British-Pakistani novelist, scriptwriter Qaisra Shahraz on the duality between India and Pakistan.Shahina asked her whether she faces any difficulties of having a Muslim name and living in Britain and she says “I have definitely faced difficulties as Muslims are looked upon with suspicion since September 11th incident. One of the main things I want to say as a woman and Muslim in Britain is that I am fond of being a Muslim and I am strong in my faith but I am not a terrorist.”She says- “Trumpism has legalized sexism and islamophobia.”One thing that I aim at is in encouraging inter-faith relations. As a human being we should live in peace and harmony and discourage hatred.Shahina pointed out that in her works free-flowing hair is a recurring image and was curious to know whether Qaisra has ever worn a purdha or veiled herself to which she replied “First of all you are right. I love the image of woman with free-flowing hair. My passion other than spreading love and peace is standing up for woman, especially Muslim woman who are forced to wear Hijab and live behind the walls”.She stated that “Leave Muslims alone. Do not victimize us”.They discussed about how Qaisra came into writing and next Shahina asked about her book “Typhoon” which had a traumatic experience of a girl who was raped. She even read out an excerpt from that book.She shared her take on “Tripple Thalaq” saying- “How can someone dismiss their wives with a Thalaq? It should not be encouraged. I am aware about the recent scenarios going on in India regarding this and is happy to see that people are starting to react against such atrocities against Muslim woman.”She spoke about how she gets influenced for her works and winded up the session with an open session with the audience.